Released on September 9th, 1938,
Boy's Town is directed by Norman Taurog and written by Dore Schary, Eleanore Griffin, and John Meehan. It is based on the life of Servant of God Father Edward J. Flanagan (Spencer Tracy) who founded Boy's Town, a home for underprivileged and orphaned boys in the 1920's.
Though ostensibly a biopic about a real person,
Boy's Town is mostly fictitious. Only the first act of the film, which focuses on the founding of Boy's Town itself, is at all true to the real story. Father Flanagan did take charge of four delinquent orphans and started a small home for homeless boys in Omaha, Nebraska despite the misgivings of his Bishop, Jeremiah Hart (here portrayed by Minor Watson). Within a few years this small operation had grown into a large community with its own mayor, schools, chapel, post office, cottages, gymnasium, and other facilities, all run by the boys.
Nevertheless, the real focus here is Flanagan's attempt to reform Whitey Marsh (Mickey Rooney), a poolroom shark and general hoodlum whose brother, Joe (Edward Norris), is a notorious criminal in prison for murder. Joe asks Fr. Callahan to bring Whitey to Boy's Town and keep him out of trouble. Though initially anxious to leave Whitey, who can't turn down a free meal ticket, decides to stay. Hoping to run things himself, he runs for mayor of Boys Town but, when he offers to drop out of the election to keep Whitey from beating the incumbent Tommy Anderson (Mickey Rentschler), the boys elect handicapped Tony Ponessa (Gene Reynolds) instead.
After this Whitey decides to leave but little Pee Wee (Bobs Watson), the Town's unofficial mascot, pleads with him to leave. Whitey tearfully refuses, storming across the highway, only for Pee Wee to carelessly follow him and be hit by a car. Feeling guilty, Whitey leaves Boy's Town and comes upon a bank robbery that Joe is involved in. Joe accidentally shoots Whitey in the leg and takes him to a church and where he is picked up by Fr. Flanagan.Whitey is reluctant to tell Flanagan about the robbery, because he doesn't want to implicate Joe but, when he realizes that his silence could result in the end of Boys Town, he goes to Joe's hideout to tell him that he is going to inform on him. His cohorts try to stop Whitey by holding he and Joe at gunpoint when Flanagan and the boys arrive and capture the gang. The film ends with a now committed Whitey being elected as new mayor of Boys Town.
The plot gets a little contrived near the end but, overall, the direction and writing are solid. Like Mother Teresa, Fr. Flanagan was determined to serve the poor, regardless of race, color or creed. He also refused to make compromises in order to keep the organization afloat financially. A major plot point involves his efforts to fund his massive operation. His benefactor and friend Dave Morris (Henry Hull) wants him to kick out some of the poorer boys in order to make room for children who can pay tuition, but Flanagan refuses to do this, even in the face of a potential closure of Boy's Town. The film helped to further popularize Father Flanagan and his work at Boy's Town. Flanagan himself was an adviser on the film and appeared in a separate 1938 MGM short,
The City of Little Men, promoting it. Shot, in part, on location in Boy's Town, the film does a good job portraying the inner workings of this remarkable little village.
 |
| Spencer Tracy with the real Father Flanagan. |
The film has an excellent cast with Spencer Tracy and Mickey Rooney being especially good in the leads. Tracy won his second best actor Oscar for
Boy's Town, becoming the first actor to win two consecutive Oscars (he won the year before for playing Manuel Fidello in Victor Fleming's
Captains Courageous and was also nominated in 1936 for W.S. Van Dyke's
San Francisco) a feat that has only been matched once, by Tom Hanks (for
Philadelphia (1993) and
Forrest Gump (1994)). Tracy spent his whole acceptance speech praising Father Flanagan, "If you have seen him through me, then I thank you." This lead an overzealous publicity representative at MGM to announce that the actor was planning to donate his Oscar to Flanagan. Tracy, who was not consulted about this, responded, "I earned the ... thing. I want it." In the end, the Academy sent a second Oscar to Boys Town which read: "To Father Flanagan, whose great humanity, kindly simplicity, and inspiring courage were strong enough to shine through my humble effort. -Spencer Tracy."
Overall, despite it flaws,
Boy's Town is a solid movie. I'd definitely recommend it to pious Catholics and particularly to young boys.
Score: 8/10
No comments:
Post a Comment